Erik ten Hag surprised by tactical change in Manchester United defeat to Brighton

Erik ten Hag believes Brighton's decision to play long balls was decisive in their 2-1 victory over Manchester United.

Pascal Gross scored his fifth and sixth goals against United to record Brighton's first-ever victory at Old Trafford and inflict a seventh opening game defeat on United in the Premier League era.

Brighton lined up in their favoured 3-4-2-1 formation and are known for playing out from the back under coach Graham Potter but Ten Hag noted they eschewed short goal kicks in favour of dueling with United higher up the pitch.

Also read: Ten Hag defends key selection vs Brighton

"Brighton is a team who normally wants to play from the back, they didn't today," Ten Hag said. "They played long ball, so it's not about pressing, it's about winning the second ball, and then in such occasions, we did not always do what we laid out before the game and we definitely have to learn from those lessons.

"I didn't expect that this team would play long routines and I think it was a big difference. Our opponent have their routines, they are a long time together with a certain philosophy and a certain plan, cooperation between coach and team, you could see. And sometimes we are not.

"But still, it was unnecessary to lose this game."

Ten Hag's decision not to start an out-and-out striker in the front three in favour of Christian Eriksen backfired and United only improved when Cristiano Ronaldo was introduced in the 53rd minute, with Eriksen dropping back into midfield.

Potter was not particularly surprised United opted for a strikerless formation: "We weren’t sure with Martial’s injury but you never know. Just because he (Ten Hag) is Dutch I don’t have any opinion if they play with a striker or not

"It wasn’t overly surprising